July 17, 2024

Passage Read: Micah 5 - Nahum 1
Meditation Verses: Micah 7:5-10

Thought

When the days are evil, they will be very evil. Friend will be foe, family will be enemy. The believer will not be able to trust anyone, even those who should be closest and most committed to them. Neighbor, friend, wife. Children will treat parents contemptuously, a man's own household will rise up against him. Because he will have been given over to contempt; he will fall. He will be hated by all and attacked and oppressed and mocked. No one will want to join in his humiliation, all will turn away from him. He will hold fast to the Lord and faith in Him, but all the world will hate the Lord and those who believe and obey Him. Familial ties will mean nothing when lives are at stake. But the man who holds fast to the Lord will eventually be vindicated, and those who turned against him will be trampled down in the mud, even her who was his wife. They will all be put to shame.

Application

My loyalty can never be to anyone higher than the Lord. Though all my family, all those whom I love and who profess love for me, no matter how much they love me or I them, I can never love them more than the Lord. They may mock me for my commitment and obedience to the Lord, but I must never waver. The Lord is right in all His ways and I will hold fast to Him, even though all the world thinks His ways are utterly stupid. My family may turn against Him and seek "better" ways, but I will hold fast to His wisdom. Though I am beat down and humiliated by the world, and all those who love me distance themselves from me, yet I will trust in the Lord and hold fast to Him. Though I may one day have to watch my loved ones be trampled in the mire, yet I will choose to remain faithful to the Lord and to His ways.